Solomon Gurksy Was Here is an ode to the ‘masculine’ challenge of rugged Canadian living. Mordecai Richler’s interest in the trials and triumphs of northern adventuring is well documented in his arguably most famous and well-received novel, which chronicles the lives of several generations of Jewish Canadian men in the far north and gives a romantic, epic scope to their fictional stories of success, adventure, and survival. The novel is said to be inspired by many sources, most notably the non-fictional accounts of the Bronfman family and the Martin Hartwell airplane crash. In this small selection from Richler’s collection, we see many different books and physical items brought together to reveal a portion of the real-world inspiration that lies behind his most popular fictional work.